By Janet Sesay
Detective Police Constable, Brima Koroma attached to the Major Incident Unit, C.I.D HQ, yesterday read the statements of six accused persons who are standing trail for the murder of Albert Madison Bio during a Club initiation at Fourah Bay College.
The accused persons include Francis Mafinda, Dennis Holland, David Ritcous Williams, Mukeh Foh, Laurence Lahai Amara, and Abasie Sesay.
Testifying before Justice Ivan Sesay at the High Court, the witness noted that he recognized all the accused persons and also recalled 13th and 14th July 2018 while on duty when a case and enquiry file of murder involving Albert Madison Bio and four accused persons was transferred from the Central Police Station to him for further investigations.
He continued his testimony by stating that on the following day, himself and other police officers arrested the accused persons and brought them to the station for questioning.
He furthered that from the 15th July to 22nd September, 2018 with the help of other police officers they cautioned and questioned the accused persons on the allegations.
Reading the statements of the first accused person (Francis) in court, the first accused stated that he is part of the Climax club and he joined the club in 2012.
He admitted that he was used for the initiation process but that he was not part of it.
He continued that during the initiation process he urged the organizers to hurry up and leave his residence largely because the process, according to him, was brutal.
He reported that they later left his house at around 12 am and went inside his house to sleep.
Reading the statement of the second accused person (Dennis Holland), he said he knew the other accused persons as members of the Klymax club and that on the day in question he was present when all those that went for the initiation were initiated.
The second accused person also stated that the initiation process had included rolling on the floor, beating, jogging etc. but that on the said night the initiation process was very brutal even though the head of the club had called for calm because a lot of the initiators had sustained wounds on their bodies.
He also added that he had observed the deceased was totally weak as a result of the assault meted on him.
The second accused also told the court that he warned the deceased not to take tramadol as the other initiators had done, but insisted on taking it so that he can complete the process.
The third accused person (Laurence Lahai Amara) in his testimony stated that he joined the club in 2005 and paid one hundred thousand Leones as registration fee.
He also testified that during the initiation process, he told the head of the club to be careful because the process was becoming brutal.
He claimed that he saw the deceased among the others and that he was wearing a white shirt.
The witness noted that he left the scene at the second to last stage because the initiators were treated badly and went to his house at 12 am.
The fourth accused person (Mukeh Foh) in his statement stated that he also joined the said club in 2015.
The statements of the fifth and sixth accused persons were also read by the witness.
The accused are arraigned before the judge on two counts of conspiracy to murder and murder contrary to law. The matter was adjourned to 11th November, 2019.